Area settled by immigrants from Pennsylvania and New England, ca. 1802. Located in northeastern Ohio about twenty-five miles southeast of Kirtland. Population in 1830 about 500. Population in 1840 about 1,100. JS lived in township at home of John and Alice...

The Book of Mormon related that when Christ set up his church in the Americas, “they which were baptized in the name of Jesus, were called the church of Christ.” The first name used to denote the church JS organized on 6 April 1830 was “the Church of Christ...

Hearken O ye People of my Church saith the voice of him
who dwells on high & whose eyes are upon all men yea verily I say hearken
ye People from afar & ye that are upon the Islands of the sea listen
to gether for verily the voice of the Lord is unto all men & there is
none to escape & there is no eye that shall not see neither ear that
shall not hear neither heart that shall not be penetrated & the rebelious
shall be pierced with much sorrow for their iniquities shall be spoken upon
the house tops & their seceret acts shall be revealed & the voice of
warning shall be unto all people by the mouth of my Deciples whom I have chosen
in these last days they shall go forth & none shall stay them for I the Lord
have commanded them Behold this is mine authority & the authority of my
servents & my preface unto the Book of my Commandments which I have given them to Publish unto
you O Inhabitants of the Earth wherefore fear & tremble O ye People for what
I the Lord have decreed in them shall be fulfilled & verily I say unto
you that they who go forth bearing these tidings unto the Inhabitants of the
Earth to them is power given to seal both on Earth & in Heaven the
unbelieveing & rebelious5

At the
conference
held in Orange, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, on 25–26 October 1831, JS
stated that “the order of the High priesthood is that they have power given
them to seal up the Saints unto eternal life.” This revelation appears to extend
that power to sealing the unrighteous to their fate as well.
(Minutes, 25–26 Oct.
1831.)

yea verily to seal them up unto the day when the wrath of God shall be poured out
upon the wicked without measure6

See
Revelation 16:1; and Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 58 [1 Nephi 22:16].

unto the day when the Lord shall come to recompence unto every man according
to his works & measure to every man according to the measure which he has
measured to his fellow man wherefore the voice of the Lord is unto unto the end of the
Earth that all that will [p. 125]

Area settled by immigrants from Pennsylvania and New England, ca. 1802. Located in northeastern Ohio about twenty-five miles southeast of Kirtland. Population in 1830 about 500. Population in 1840 about 1,100. JS lived in township at home of John and Alice...

The Book of Mormon related that when Christ set up his church in the Americas, “they which were baptized in the name of Jesus, were called the church of Christ.” The first name used to denote the church JS organized on 6 April 1830 was “the Church of Christ...

Hearken O ye People of my Church saith the voice of him
who dwells on high & whose eyes are upon all men yea verily I say hearken
ye People from afar & ye4

TEXT: Or “yet”.

that are upon the Islands of the sea listen
to gether for verily the voice of the Lord is unto all men & there is
none to escape & there is no eye that shall not see neither ear that
shall not hear neither heart that shall not be penetrated & the rebelious
shall be pierced with much sorrow for their iniquities shall be spoken upon
the house tops & their seceret acts shall be revealed & the voice of
warning shall be unto all people by the mouth of my Deciples whom I have chosen
in these last days they shall go forth & none shall stay them for I the Lord
have commanded them Behold this is mine authority & the authority of my
servents & my preface unto the Book of my Commandments which I have given them to Publish unto
you O Inhabitants of the Earth wherefore fear & tremble O ye People for what
I the Lord have decreed in them shall be fulfilled & verily I say unto
you that they who go forth bearing these tidings unto the Inhabitants of the
Earth to them is power given to seal both on Earth & in Heaven the
unbelieveing & rebelious5

At the
conference
held in Orange, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, on 25–26 October 1831, JS
stated that “the order of the High priesthood is that they have power given
them to seal up the Saints unto eternal life.” This revelation appears to extend
that power to sealing the unrighteous to their fate as well.
(Minutes, 25–26 Oct.
1831.)

yea verily to seal them up unto the day when the wrath of God shall be poured out
upon the wicked without measure6

See
Revelation 16:1; and Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 58 [1 Nephi 22:16].

unto the day when the Lord shall come to recompence unto every man according
to his works & measure to every man according to the measure which he has
measured to his fellow man wherefore the voice of the Lord is unto his fellow man unto the end of the
Earth that all that will [p. 125]

A meeting where ecclesiastical officers and other church members could conduct church business. The “Articles and Covenants” of the church directed the elders to hold conferences to perform “Church business.” The first of these conferences was held on 9 June...

A male leader in the church generally; an ecclesiastical and priesthood office or one holding that office; a proselytizing missionary. The Book of Mormon explained that elders ordained priests and teachers and administered “the flesh and blood of Christ unto...

Area settled by immigrants from Pennsylvania and New England, ca. 1802. Located in northeastern Ohio about twenty-five miles southeast of Kirtland. Population in 1830 about 500. Population in 1840 about 1,100. JS lived in township at home of John and Alice...

, one of the conference participants, gave a more detailed
account of the production of the preface fifty years later to William
Kelley, an elder in the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter
Day Saints. According to Kelley’s account of the conversation, McLellin said that
he, Sidney
Rigdon

19 Feb. 1793–14 July 1876. Tanner, farmer, minister. Born at St. Clair, Allegheny Co., Pennsylvania. Son of William Rigdon and Nancy Gallaher. Joined United Baptists, ca. 1818. Preached at Warren, Trumbull Co., Ohio, and vicinity, 1819–1821. Married Phebe...

3 Oct. 1806–3 Mar. 1850. Clerk, teacher, justice of the peace, lawyer, newspaper editor. Born at Wells, Rutland Co., Vermont. Son of William Cowdery and Rebecca Fuller. Raised Congregationalist. Moved to western New York and clerked at a store, ca. 1825–1828...

had been given the assignment
to write the preface to the Book of Commandments, but when they presented their
draft to the conference, the “Conference picked it all to pieces” and requested that
JS petition the Lord for a preface. After JS and the elders bowed in prayer, JS, who
was “sitting by a window,” dictated the preface “by the Spirit,” while Rigdon served
as scribe. “Joseph would deliver a few sentences and Sydney would write them down,”
McLellin told Kelley, “then read them aloud, and if correct, then Joseph would
proceed and deliver more.” In this way, “the preface was given.”3

As with prefaces to other published
works, this revelation informed readers of the subject and purpose of the volume.
Speaking in the voice of Deity, it told both the church

The Book of Mormon related that when Christ set up his church in the Americas, “they which were baptized in the name of Jesus, were called the church of Christ.” The first name used to denote the church JS organized on 6 April 1830 was “the Church of Christ...

Generally, a divine mandate that church members were expected to obey; more specifically, a text dictated by JS in the first-person voice of Deity that served to communicate knowledge and instruction to JS and his followers. Occasionally, other inspired texts...

to
JS and painted an apocalyptic picture of the wrath
that God would unleash against the wicked unless they responded to the new
revelations by repenting. The revelations were thus a “voice of warning” to the
world to prepare them for Jesus Christ’s second coming.

The original manuscript of the
preface is no longer extant. John Whitmer

27 Aug. 1802–11 July 1878. Farmer, stock raiser, newspaper editor. Born in Pennsylvania. Son of Peter Whitmer Sr. and Mary Musselman. Member of German Reformed Church, Fayette, Seneca Co., New York. Baptized by Oliver Cowdery, June 1829, most likely in Seneca...

copied the revelation into Revelation Book 1
likely
between 12 November 1831, the date of the
revelation that precedes it in the revelation book, and 20 November, the date that he and Cowdery

3 Oct. 1806–3 Mar. 1850. Clerk, teacher, justice of the peace, lawyer, newspaper editor. Born at Wells, Rutland Co., Vermont. Son of William Cowdery and Rebecca Fuller. Raised Congregationalist. Moved to western New York and clerked at a store, ca. 1825–1828...

Area acquired by U.S. in Louisiana Purchase, 1803, and established as territory, 1812. Missouri Compromise, 1820, admitted Missouri as slave state, 1821. Population in 1830 about 140,000; in 1836 about 240,000; and in 1840 about 380,000. Mormon missionaries...

Area settled by immigrants from Pennsylvania and New England, ca. 1802. Located in northeastern Ohio about twenty-five miles southeast of Kirtland. Population in 1830 about 500. Population in 1840 about 1,100. JS lived in township at home of John and Alice...

27 Aug. 1802–11 July 1878. Farmer, stock raiser, newspaper editor. Born in Pennsylvania. Son of Peter Whitmer Sr. and Mary Musselman. Member of German Reformed Church, Fayette, Seneca Co., New York. Baptized by Oliver Cowdery, June 1829, most likely in Seneca...